Is That St. Louis’ Team?
Believe it or not, there are at least two Arizona Cardinals fans in the New York area:
Posted: January 31st, 2009 | Filed under: SportsIt’s an island of red in a Big Blue ocean, an Arizona oasis amid fans Gang Green with envy.
Sidebar, in Union Square, is the Super Bowl Sunday hot spot for long-suffering local Arizona Cardinals fans — a place where Larry Fitzgerald jerseys are welcomed and Terrible Towels are used to clean dishes.
Manager Zach Israel — a Phoenix native who wears Kurt Warner’s No. 13 — hangs his Cardinals flag inside the bar at 118 E. 15th St. More than 100 Arizona backers create an unlikely red sea of support in the city’s biggest (and perhaps only?) Cardinals outpost.
“It’s insane,” says the manager’s 23-year-old sister, Sasha, a Sidebar bartender. “Everybody’s just so happy.”
And why not? The Cardinals are making their first Super Bowl trip. The team’s last championship came before either Israel was born — back in 1947, when the Cardinals were still in Chicago.
Finding an Arizona outpost in the city was a chore — “Scarsdale is just more popular than Scottsdale,” says James Fletcher, editor of AOL’s Digital City site.
